Robin Newton

CONDUCTOR

‘Conductor Robin Newton opted for a big-scale, high-voltage performance [of] power and excitement ... the pervasive sense of tension and uncertainty, so often played down, was wonderfully sustained.’

Tim Ashley, The Guardian

BIOGRAPHY

English conductor Robin Newton’s rapidly developing career has seen him work with many renowned opera companies and orchestras including Welsh National,the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Den Nye Oper, English National Opera, Opera North, English Touring Opera, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Northern Chamber Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.

Highlights of last season include Robin’s Welsh National Opera début with Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, his concert début with the Salomon Orchestra, and returns to both the Bergen National Opera for Fidelio, and Chelsea Opera Group for Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, as well as further projects with Opera Rara.

This season’s highlights include his English Chamber Orchestra début, his first visit to the Hallé and a return to Chelsea Opera Group for Ernani and continued work with Sir Mark Elder and Opera Rara.

Recent seasons have seen Robin make several notable débuts including Verdi’s Aida for Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, La Forza del Destino at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Chelsea Opera Group, and Marcos Portugal’s La pazza giornata for Bampton Classical Opera at the Buxton Festival. Further highlights include Dido and Aeneas for Opera North, the world première of Stephen McNeff’s Daughters of the Elements at the Tête-á-Tête Opera Festival, Rossini’s Armida with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra at St John’s Smith Square, London with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Don Giovanni for Opera Della Luna, The Glory of Christmas at Watford Coliseum for Raymond Gubbay Ltd, and as assistant conductor for Opera Rara’s recordings of Donizetti’s Caterina Cornaro and Belisario with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Having worked on more than twenty recordings for Opera Rara, Robin has a deep understanding of the bel canto style, and an extensive knowledge of operas by Bellini, Donizetti, Mercadante and Rossini, amongst others. In recent years Robin has also established an important relationship with Garsington Opera, where performance credits include Mozart’s Il Re Pastore and Die Zauberflöte and Beethoven’s Fidelio. He has also worked closely on both operatic and symphonic works with Maurizio Benini, Jiří Bělohlávek, Yves Abel, and Andrew Litton.

Robin has a music degree with honours from Cambridge University and studied conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester where he twice received the Ricordi Prize for Conducting Opera.